Seeing as I just finished my first semester of university, I thought I’d share some things I’ve learned along the way. Hope you guys like it!
1. Always bring a jumper and an umbrella with you! It can get really cold in the lecture theatres sometimes and it’s good to bring an umbrella when it starts raining out of nowhere.
2. DO THE ASSIGNED READING! In my tutorials we would spend at least an hour going over the chapter we were supposed to read. I always felt like I was learning a lot more and able to engage with the topic when I’d done the reading. Also one of my tutors suggested to read the chapter once over just so you can understand the topic and then go back and read it again while taking notes on at least five important points in the chapter.
3. Try and start assignments six weeks before the due date. I know this sounds like a lot of time but trust me, it really works to give yourself that much time. Start the first week by looking at the task and finding out what you have to do. In the second week start brainstorming what you’re going to write, week 3 research, week 4 work on your first draft, week 5 second and third draft/editing and week 6 finish editing and submit.
4. Try and find a nice and quiet place you can study. Towards the end of the semester I found this little table and chairs tucked in a corner the near the library and it quickly became one of my favourite spots. Sometimes in places where lots of people like to study, e.g the library, people will seem to talk really loudly and headphones sometimes won’t drown out the noise completely, so it’s good to have that quiet place.
5. If you are having problems with an assignment talk to your tutor. I know some people get scared of going up and asking their tutors questions ( I was one of them) but I honestly don’t think I would I have done as well as I did this semester if I didn’t ask questions. A good thing to do is copy down your tutors email on the first day of class, that way when you are nervous about talking to them face to face you can ask them the question in the email. You could also wait until almost everyone was out of the classroom and then approach your tutor, which might ease your nerves. Always remember they are there to help you and want you to succeed so they won’t get annoyed at you asking questions.
6. Group assignments can be terrible but try and work with people who have similar work ethics to you. I think everyone will have to do group assignments at some point in their university years. There will be days where you want to rip out your hair and cry but I think there’s ultimately no escaping it. One thing I would suggest, is to watch other people in your tutorials and try and find people who have the same work ethic as you, so when the group assignment comes up you can go up and ask if they want to work with you. Otherwise you might end up halfway through the assignment and realise you’re doing the whole thing because your group member doesn’t care if they pass or fail (this has happened to me twice..)
7. Treat uni like a full-time job When I first started my university, my auntie told me that she used to study from 9AM to 3PM and pretend that she was at work, because when you’re at work you usually don’t procrastinate and spend hours on Tumblr or watch TV most of the day. This could help stop procrastinating if you think about that while studying too.
I hope this helped in some way, I’m definitely going to make more advice posts in the future because this was really fun.
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